COLOMBIA, U.S. BREAK HEROIN RING

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian authorities, working with the U.S. drug
agents, said they shut down a heroin trafficking ring Tuesday that was
sending hundreds of pounds of the drug to the United States sewn into the
lining of clothing.

Colombian authorities arrested 23 people after raids on 20 businesses and
homes early Tuesday morning. Twenty-four people have been arrested in the
United States during the yearlong investigation, according to Leo Arrequin,
director of the Colombia office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Colombian officials closed down a clothing factory, described as a front
for the traffickers. Heroin was found inside the seams and between the
linings and outer fabric of the clothes.

Arrequin said the smugglers, based in Colombia, and in Newark, N.J.; New
York City; Houston and McAllen, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Chicago,
Ill., were taking heroin across the U.S.-Mexican border in shipments of
clothing.

Officials estimate that the ring shipped 110 pounds of heroin a month.

Colombia, better known for its cocaine trade, produces 70 percent of the
heroin used in the United States. Authorities estimate eight to 10 tons of
Colombian heroin reaches the United States every year.